Thursday, July 24, 2008

Popcorn on the fly

Have you seen this? Use your cell phone instead of a microwave?




For all of the talk about teens and texting, is this another reason to text instead of making a call? My husband sent this video which is timely considering the talk of exposure to cell phone signals that I have seen in the news today. Of the recommendations:
  • Don't carry your cell phone in your pocket
  • Keep the keypad side towards your body
  • Don't favor one side when talking on the phone
  • Keep your calls short (about a minute)
  • Children should only use cell phones in an emergency
Should we be really worried about exposure to cell phone signals? Perhaps... we know the honey bees already have a problem with the signals (though for different reasons). I know... we worry too much but after all, it took some time to convince people about the danger of cigarettes...

What I think: I am not abandoning my cell phone. I am not one to be on it constantly and more likely to text these days than call. My phone is to big to carry in a pocket.

What do you think?

4 comments:

  1. Louise, I saw this clip a little while ago and it sure got me thinking. I did a bit of searching though, and it appears that a series of videos from different countries showing the same basic scenario (3 Russians in one video, 4 Japanese in another etc)were all released to YouTube on the same day. This article debunks cell phones to pop popcorn. I wonder how I could use this with my science students, hmm...

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  2. Claire, Thanks for the information. I should have searched before posting (or tried the experiment myself) but tied it into a post I was working on about cell phones and our health rather quickly.

    The link to the article is great. Would love to see how they did that.

    We could use it with science students as a critical thinking activity and even have them try it and find out why it doesn't work.

    I used to have students theorize why popcorn pops and justify their work (masses before and after, etc.).

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  3. Louise,
    I like your suggestion of using this as a critical thinking exercise for science students. The 'wow, that's cool' aspect of the video clip sure bowled me over at first.

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  4. That video was very disturbing. We tried it in my graduate school technology class and it did not work. One person in the class heard that people were dismantling their microwaves and putting them under the table. But, it was still a fun experiment.

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